Google has gradually been making Chrome OS more touchscreen-optimized. It recently made some changes to the launcher in order to optimize it more for touchscreens and it appears that Google is now testing a fullscreen launcher for Chrome OS in tablet mode. A significant launcher update such as this will further blur the line between Chrome OS and Android-powered tablets.
The Chrome OS launcher isn’t fullscreen as of now. When the home button is pressed, the search bar appears with one row of recent apps below it. It’s only when the arrow is pressed that the launcher opens in fullscreen.
A new commit has been discovered in the Chromium Gerrit which adds a feature flat to enable fullscreen launcher in tablet mode. It will also alter the behavior of the home button as tapping it would minimize all windows instead of opening the launcher.
It’s about time that such optimizations are being considered for Chrome OS particularly as tablets powered by this cloud-based operating system are likely to become commonplace in the future. Acer has already launched the first Chrome OS tablet in March and it may only be a matter of time before Chrome OS becomes the defacto operating system for tablets.